


Most Definitely a Unique Adventure

by AyVee175



Category: Original Work
Genre: Middle Ages, Middle Ages Denmark, Middle Ages France, Vikings, historical fiction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyVee175/pseuds/AyVee175
Summary: This is a story that I wrote for a history project in 8th grade. It is set in France and Denmark during the Middle Ages. The characters are fictional, but their names and the settings are all historically accurate.
Kudos: 1





	Most Definitely a Unique Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Because I wrote this for a school assignment, I had to include some vocabulary words. They will appear in bold in the story. There is a glossary at the end with definitions for all of them. I felt like keeping the vocab words in bold and the glossary at the end, so I did.

It was a day she’d never forget, one that changed her life forever. A sudden storm had sprung up, causing rain to fall in sheets from the carpet of huge dark grey clouds in the sky. She lay unconscious in the tall grass outside the village, bleeding profusely from a gash on one leg. There were several scratches on her arms and face, which were also smeared with dirt, and her usually golden-blonde hair was stained brown and red with blood and mud. This young woman’s name was Brynhildr Helga.

Brynhildr’s story starts weeks earlier, in a small town on the coast of what is now Denmark. She had just achieved her most important goal: she was finally going on her first raid. Brynhildr, or Bryn for short, was part of a group of people living in modern-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These people are called **Vikings** , named after the raids they conducted, which were also called Vikings. Anyways, Bryn’s father was leading this particular viking, which was the main factor behind her participation. In Viking society, both men and women participated in raids, so it wasn’t unusual for someone like Bryn to be in the raiding party. However, these vikings were very physically demanding, so not just anyone could partake. But Bryn had trained long and hard to be a part of this, and her family knew it.

Watching the first Vikings board the longships, nervous apprehension and excitement were battling each other inside her. As the time came for Bryn herself to board the longship, her mounting excitement won out over her nervousness, and she stepped into the boat in high spirits. Her sky-blue eyes shone with excitement and anticipation as she took her place next to her father. However, Bryn soon realized that the journey across the North Sea to Europe wasn’t what she had expected. It was nearly four days of cold winds, rationed food, intense boredom, and missing her family. She was shocked to learn that four days was a short voyage. According to her father, past journeys had taken as long as two or three weeks. He also explained that the reason this particular trip had been so short was favorable winds. The wind had been blowing towards their destination for most of the trip, so it had been short. Bryn suspected the reason that the journey had seemed so long was the intense boredom and missing her family. That was perhaps what she was least prepared for. She missed her mother’s warm embrace, her younger siblings’ constant questions and seemingly infinite curiosity, and how they would sit on the end of her bed in the evenings, staring at her in awe while she told them stories from her childhood.

At long last, only a couple hours after daybreak on the fifth day, the ships sailed down the river and came into port. They docked at a small town to trade and restock our food stores, and could finally get out of the boats and walk around. _The towns here are built so much differently than my hometown,_ Bryn thought as she wandered through the buildings. She passed by the church, and eventually came to a **monastery** , which caught her eye. She’d never seen one before, as there weren’t any in her homeland. Few **missionaries** dared to venture into Viking territory. Before she could explore the monastery, however, a member of the raiding party came to tell her that the party would be heading out very soon, and she needed to meet up with everyone else at the docks. Bryn looked back at the monastery a couple of times as she followed the other Viking back to the group.

There was a buzz of activity around the ships when she returned. Shieldmaidens were taking the shields down from the sides of the boats, and others were getting swords, axes, and spears out and ready. Bryn promptly made her way to one of the ships that still had shields on it and assisted another shieldmaiden in removing them. Together they detached all of the shields on the sides of the ship and set them on the deck. After what seemed like an eternity, everyone was ready to go.

It was about midday as they set sail for the first town. The weather was perfect for their mission: clear skies, the sun shining brilliantly directly above them. It wasn’t so late in the day that the heat was a problem, but not so early that everything was wet with dew. All aboard the longships were silent, and Bryn could feel the tension in the air from her fellow Vikings’ mounting anticipation. Once they reached a bend in the river just upstream of the town, the ships were docked and everyone disembarked. The raiders assembled themselves into formation and charged on the village.

As one might imagine, the fighting was intense. The knights protecting the town put up a good fight, but were ultimately driven out by their Viking attackers. Bryn herself had been backed up against a building by a particularly large knight, and was barely managing to block his attacks with a shield she’d picked up. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Bryn saw a silver glint on her right. An axe! She was in luck. Unfortunately, as she grabbed the handle of the axe, the knight managed to land a direct blow to her left leg. Bryn cried out in pain, but somehow managed to get to her feet and slash her attacker across the gut. The knight fell to his knees and slumped over, dead. Barely able to stand, Bryn half-crawled, half-dragged herself away from the buildings and collapsed, exhausted, in the edge of the tall grass around the town. The pain in her wounded leg was such that she couldn’t feel it anymore, and her brain was barely able to register the fact that a sudden storm had blown in and it had started raining. _The gods must be crying_ , she thought. _Mama once told me that’s why it rains. She said it rains because the gods are crying. I wonder what makes the gods cry._ Then she lost consciousness.

This is where the introduction to this story begins, but Brynhildr’s journey is far from over. After the attack, Bryn’s father comes across her still-unconscious body. Assuming the worst, he falls to his knees and is visibly trying to hold back tears. They come anyway, and he, a well-respected, battle-hardened, grown man, just sits there, crying, in front of the unconscious body of his eldest child, his face buried in his hands. Others notice this, and rush over to comfort him. The other Vikings all stand in a respectful silence for a moment, before returning to the ships. Bryn’s poor father is practically carried back to his ship, distraught with grief and sadness.

Now, it just so happens that a few of the villagers had managed to escape the death and destruction in the village and make it to the house of a man by the name of Viscount Ludovicus Sigismund. Viscount Sigismund happened to be the **lord** of the land the village was located on, and as such, he was obligated to send knights to protect his land, or **manor** , and the people on it. However, for some reason the viscount decided to accompany his knights and the surviving townspeople, or **serfs** , to the village. By the time they arrived, of course, the Viking raiders were long gone, but evidence of their raid was strewn everywhere. Due to the sudden rainstorm, nothing had been burned, but the Vikings had taken nearly everything of value and partially destroyed several buildings, including the town’s church.

The viscount immediately ordered his knights to search the ruined village for survivors, then proceeded to do the same. It was in this search for survivors that Viscount Sigismund came upon a now barely conscious Brynhildr. She summoned just enough strength to mutter a call for help. Her voice was hardly louder than a whisper, but the viscount was close enough to hear it. He stared at her, trying to determine whether or not he’d heard her say something. Bryn mumbled for help again, and this time she managed to open her eyes a little. Upon seeing this, Viscount Sigismund promptly knelt at Bryn’s side and called the serfs over to bandage her leg. After another hour of searching, no other survivors were found, so the serfs carried Bryn back to the viscount’s house. She lost consciousness again somewhere along the way, and woke up several hours later in a bed in Viscount Sigismund’s house.

Bryn sat up and looked around. A woman was sitting on the end of her bed, sewing something. The woman glanced at Bryn when she sat up. “Feel any better, dear? You were in awful shape when we brought you here,” she said. “I feel rested,” Bryn replied, “but where am I? Who are you?” The woman said, “I’m no one important, but if you must know, my name is Adelina. You, my dear, are in one of the guest rooms of the house of the Viscount Ludovicus Sigismund. Now, who are you?” Bryn said, “well, Adelina, my name is Brynhildr, but I like to be called Bryn.” “Alright. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, I should tell the Viscount that you’re awake. I’ll be right back, dear,” Adelina said as she got up and put her sewing away. She exited the room and returned with the Viscount. He told Bryn that she could stay in his house as long as she needed to, and his servants would take care of her.

Before she knew it, a couple of weeks had passed, and Bryn had finally recovered from her injuries. She would have a limp for the rest of her life, but was otherwise fine. At this point, Bryn was starting to get homesick. While staying in Viscount Sigismund’s house was nice, and it was very interesting to learn about **manorialism** , **feudalism** , kings, lords, **vassals** , knights, **fiefs** , serfs, manors, **canon law** , **secular** government, **heretics** , and **excommunication** , she also missed her family terribly. One day, Bryn mentioned her homesickness to Viscount Sigismund, who, being the sweet and caring soul he was, vowed to do everything in his power to help her get back home. The very next day, the viscount assembled an escort of knights, left his son in charge while he was gone, and set off with Bryn for the king’s castle. It wasn’t terribly far, so they arrived that evening. The group was met at the gate by the castle guards, who let them pass after recognizing the viscount. Once inside, Viscount Sigismund requested an audience with the king, but was met by his eldest son instead. Prince Grimwald Ansgar had been put in charge while his father was away, and he listened to Bryn and the viscount explain her situation.

Prince Ansgar told them that because it was late and it had been a long day, they could discuss the matter further in the morning. He invited them to stay the night in the castle, and showed them their rooms. Night came and went, and everyone woke up that morning feeling refreshed and energized. While the prince and viscount discussed how they could possibly get Bryn back to her homeland, she looked for someone who could tell her more about the church and its hierarchy of power. She found a priest who told her about the **Pope** , **bishops** , **priests** , **parishes** , **tithes** , and the **Holy Roman Empire**. Bryn listened eagerly as the priest explained it to her, and she was a little disappointed when Viscount Sigismund called her over and she had to leave.

Her disappointment was short-lived, however, once she found out the reason she had been called back. The prince had a boat that he said Bryn could use to sail back home! She was ecstatic, so much so that she could hardly sleep that night. The time finally came for Bryn to board her boat and say her goodbyes. Adelina had been able to come up to the palace when she heard the news, and Bryn embraced her at the port where her boat was docked. As she pulled away, Bryn said, “thank you.” Adelina then gave Bryn the sewing she’d been working on the day they first met. Bryn pulled out a beaded necklace she’d made as a kid and gave it to Adeline. She thanked Prince Ansgar and Viscount Sigismund for their kind generosity, and promised that in return for saving her life and getting her home, she would make sure that no more raids would take place on any villages in the prince’s land. After the goodbyes were all said and done, Bryn boarded her boat and set sail for home.

The voyage back to her homeland was a lot longer and more physically demanding than it had been coming in on the longships, which was mostly due to the fact that Bryn was making the return trip alone and in a smaller boat. After twelve cold, lonely days on the sea, she finally spotted her hometown. Not wanting to cause alarm by being in an unfamiliar boat, Bryn decided to dock a bit further away from town and walk the remaining distance. She pulled her boat up onto the shore, gathered her few belongings, and began the short walk to her hometown.

When she finally arrived, the first Vikings who saw her stood frozen in disbelief. A few moments later, the shock wore off, and one of them ran to get Bryn’s family. Bryn herself was cold, hungry, and weary, and was very grateful to finally be able to rest. The Viking came back with her family, who were beyond disbelief at her presence. The first ones to get over their shock at seeing her alive were Bjorn and Astrid, Bryn’s younger brother and sister. Both of her parents wept with joy when they realized that she was truly alive and back home. Of course, everyone wanted to hear the story of how she’d managed to survive her injuries and make it back in one piece, and she gladly told them everything. She made good on her promise to Prince Ansgar, and no raids were ever carried out by those Vikings in his lands again. Bryn’s story was passed down from generation to generation in that town, and it soon became legend. At the end of the first time she told her story, she said, “It was most definitely a unique adventure.”

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary  
> (Organized by order of appearance.)  
> Vikings – A Scandinavian people best known for their raids on cities and distinctive longships.  
> Monastery – A place where writings were copied and stored, similar to libraries today.  
> Missionaries – People who spread the belief of Christianity.  
> Lord – Someone who leased land to others below them.  
> Manor – A large estate containing farmland, a village, and the manor of the lord who owned it.  
> Serfs – Peasants who worked the land in exchange for protection.  
> Manorialism – An economic system in which peasants are rendered based on work they do and land they work on.  
> Feudalism – A caste system based on land division and workforce.  
> Vassal – Somebody who received protection and land from a Lord in exchange for loyalty and military service.  
> Fief – Subdivision of land; worked by peasants knows as serfs.  
> Canon Law – Laws created and enforced by the Catholic Church, often enforced by the Pope.  
> Secular – Non-religious government/rule.  
> Heretic – Somebody who holds beliefs and/or performs actions that go against the church’s beliefs, someone who does heresy.  
> Excommunication – The action of officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church.  
> Pope – Head of the Roman Catholic Church.  
> Bishop – Supervised priests, settled disputes over Church teachings and practices.  
> Priest – Administered the Sacraments, gave advice, taught about right and wrong, head of the local church.  
> Parish – A small administrative district typically having its own church and a priest or pastor.  
> Tithe – One tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the Church and clergy.  
> Holy Roman Empire – Territories in western and central Europe; existed from early Middle Ages to the end of them.


End file.
